


Those Who Made Me

by KBray20



Category: Iron Man (Movies), Spider-Man - All Media Types, The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Adoption, Alternate Universe - No Powers, F/M, Fluff and Hurt/Comfort, Genius Peter Parker, Kid Peter Parker, Orphan Peter Parker, Parent Pepper Potts, Parent Tony Stark, Precious Morgan Stark (Marvel Cinematic Universe)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-21
Updated: 2021-02-20
Packaged: 2021-03-17 19:01:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,503
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29597316
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KBray20/pseuds/KBray20
Summary: Just a story about finding healing after terrible tragedy, and how a little boy learns he was brave all along.
Relationships: James "Rhodey" Rhodes & Tony Stark, Pepper Potts/Tony Stark, Peter Parker & Pepper Potts, Peter Parker & Pepper Potts & Morgan Stark (Marvel Cinematic Universe) & Tony Stark, Peter Parker & Tony Stark
Comments: 3
Kudos: 29





	Those Who Made Me

One 

Peter Parker prayed for bravery every night before bed. He’d kneel down by his bed in Mrs. Henderson’s yellow painted room and ask for bravery just like Mikey’s. Mikey was eleven years-old and a “terror” in Mrs. Henderson’s words. She really didn’t like him, but Peter didn’t understand why. Mikey was the oldest boy living at Mrs. Henderson’s home and he looked out for Peter and the other boys. Once, he went up against Jacob Murphey when the older boy kept taking Oliver’s lunch money at the bus stop. Jacob is a Freshman in High School and _really_ big. Mikey had fearlessly launched himself at Mikey one morning. He got two blacks eyes and a two week grounding from Ms. Henderson, but Jacob never tried to take any of their things again. 

Sometimes Mikey would help the younger boys out with their homework in the evening. He seemed to know everything. Peter never needed help with his homework but sometimes he pretended he did just so Mikey would spend time with him. 

Staying at Mrs. Henderson’s home wasn’t very fun. She was really strict and the house smelled funny. She didn’t like it when any of the boys made a lot of noise and didn’t let them play outside very often. Some days Peter would lay awake in bed long after he should be asleep and try not to cry. He really missed his parents on those nights. He prayed his hardest those nights. He wanted to be like Mikey. Brave, confident, strong. 

Peter’s was a small, vision impaired, asthmatic eight-year-old. He knew the chances of him doing impressive feats like Mikey was slim, so that's why he asked for bravery. Peter figured if he wasn’t afraid of everything then he could maybe try to do stuff without worrying about if he’d get it right or not. Peter had watched frozen in place as Jacob took Oliver’s lunch money day after day. Oliver was ten but just as small as Peter. Peter had always wanted to help, but he’d been too scared. When it really counted, he was really nothing like Mikey at all. He’d done nothing when his friend was in trouble. 

Now, Peter sat in Mrs. Henderson’s kitchen table eating his oatmeal across from Oliver. He wondered if the other boy thought less of him too. Ironically, Peter was too afraid to ask the older boy about it. 

“Hey losers,” Mikey greeted happily as he walked into the kitchen, “I think I have some news you’ll really like.”

Mikey slammed down a flyer in the middle of the kitchen table. Peter was glad Mrs. Henderson wasn’t around to see that. She would have lectured Mikey for three straight minutes on respecting other people’s property. She really liked to lecture. Peter leaned forward in his seat to get a glance at the words on the flyer. 

**TONY STARK MEET AND GREET**  
**O'REILLY'S YOUTH CENTER, SATURDAY OCTOBER 10TH 10:00AM - 12:00PM.**

Peter almost choked on his oatmeal as he sucked in a surprised breath. Mr. Tony Stark was coming to their Youth Center? How was Peter just hearing about this now?

“This isn’t a prank?” Peter asked, bracing himself for it all to be some joke. Mikey did like to try and pull pranks on them all the time. 

“Dude,” Mikey huffed and rolled his eyes, “I wouldn’t joke about Tony Stark. I know you would probably pee your pants if you got to see the man face to face. I even ran it by Mrs. Henderson and she okayed me taking you two and Cameron to the event this Saturday. We’ll just be on laundry duty that evening since we’ll be missing morning chores.”

Peter could barely believe what he was hearing. Mrs. Henderson was going to let them skip out of Saturday chores to go see Tony Stark! Peter would gladly clean her entire house all by himself for this opportunity. 

Oliver snatched up the flyer and held it close to his face as if to verify its authenticity. After a few moments he glanced over at Mikey. “Why would Mr. Stark want to visit some random Youth Center in Queens on a Saturday afternoon?”

“I don’t know dude,” Mikey whined and plopped down on the seat beside Peter. “Don’t look a gift horse in the mouth man. Peter gets to meet his idol and we get out of chores for a whole morning. Win-win.” 

For once Peter didn’t agree with Mikey. This wasn’t just a win-win scenario. This was probably the best thing that has ever happened in Peter’s whole life. 

_I can’t believe this is happening!_

()()()

“Pep, this isn’t happening.” Tony told his wife for the thousandth time, “I’m not doing it.”

To her credit, Pepper Potts-Stark didn’t even look up from the book she was reading on the couch beside him. In fact she hasn’t looked at Tony once in the last ten minutes since this conversation began. 

“It’s already planned Tony.” She told him, “A bunch of children and their parents are expecting you to be in Queens this Saturday. Are you really just going to not show up for that?”  
Tony felt a frustrated anger take control of him. He hated when Pepper used cool logic to argue with him. She’d backed him into an impossible corner and she knew it. Six years ago when Pepper first met him that would have been exactly what his response would be. He didn’t want to go to the event, so he wouldn’t. Who cared if it disappointed a bunch of excited children? 

Tony sighed and scrubbed his face in annoyance. Had that really been something he’d once been capable of? Looking back on his life he sometimes wondered how he’d ever managed to get all he had. A wife like Pepper who loved him despite his faults and their five-year old daughter Morgan. Nothing he’d done in life had earned the paradise he was living but Tony wasn’t asking any questions. 

“You’d signed me up without asking Pepper.” Tony tried one last time. “You know how I feel about meeting children. I’ll do any other PR events but please Pep, not this one.”

Pepper finally laid her book down on her lap to look at Tony. Despite how long this conversation has been going, her eyes were soft when they met his. She reached across the couch to grab Tony’s hand. 

“This isn’t about PR Tony. The owner of O'Reilly's Youth Center has been requesting this event every couple months for almost a year now. He’s got a lot of smart children interested in science and robotics. They even started a small robotics club there after school a few months ago. Apparently there is a lot of talent there. The Center has a lot of good kids going through some rough times.” Pepper squeezed his hand. “I understand why you're hesitant Tony, I do. We can’t avoid this forever though. Morgan is getting older now and eventually we will have to tell her about this. I think meeting the children there is a good first step to being able to have that conversation with her.”

Tony sighed and brought Pepper’s hand up to give a quick kiss. He knew she was right. He couldn’t hide away from events around children forever. He sure wanted too though. He couldn’t help find _him_ in every crowd of children he saw. Before Morgan had come into their life seeing any child at all had been too hard. Morgan had healed some of the wound in his and Pepper’s hearts, but there would always be scarring left over. 

“I’ll do it, but you need to ask me first next time. This is hard Pepper.”

Pepper brought Tony’s own hand up for a kiss. 

“You’re made of tougher stuff Anthony Stark. You’ll pull through and be stronger for it.” She smiled at him, Tony noted that it was a bit watery. “I promise to ask you first from now on.”

Tony and Pepper spent the rest of the morning in silence. Each thinking about the time before Morgan. It was a period of time neither adult let themselves think about for too long. It was easier to focus on their future and their daughter. Morgan was beautiful and wonderful. She’d made them better people, but she wasn’t the child that made them parents. No, that role belonged to _him_. Soon they would have to tell Morgan about her brother and why he was no longer with them. Tony wasn’t sure if he was going to be able to explain it to his daughter when he could hardly understand it himself. 

Tony glanced over at his wife to see silent tears streaming down her face. He wasted no time in reaching over to pull her into his arms. He didn’t say any words because they’d already been said a million times over. He just held her while Pepper cried silently and they remembered the perfect little two-year-old boy who’d made them parents.


End file.
